9 year old daughter working on forehands. Help please

I have been working with my daughters game for a year now and she has show some very good improvement. We are turning our attention to the forehand to try and get some more power by working on rotation and full follow through over left shoulder, etc. Balance is a bit of an issue as well as getting weight forward it seems. I have tried some right footed forehands (one leg) a few sessions and this helps a bit. What would be your approach to making this a more solid powerful stroke?

I have been working with my daughters game for a year now and she has show some very good improvement. We are turning our attention to the forehand to try and get some more power by working on rotation and full follow through over left shoulder, etc. Balance is a bit of an issue as well as getting weight forward it seems. I have tried some right footed forehands (one leg) a few sessions and this helps a bit. What would be your approach to making this a more solid powerful stroke?

I have been working with my daughters game for a year now and she has show some very good improvement. We are turning our attention to the forehand to try and get some more power by working on rotation and full follow through over left shoulder, etc. Balance is a bit of an issue as well as getting weight forward it seems. I have tried some right footed forehands (one leg) a few sessions and this helps a bit. What would be your approach to making this a more solid powerful stroke?

thanks for any feedback.

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You've obviously told her to stay on her toes! This I feel could be the issue with her balance, the fact she is pushing up onto her toes right the way through contact is causing her to fall back onto her heels (watch how many times her first move after the hit is to go back slightly - she is rarely able to remain neutral). So for me, that would be the first area to address. Secondly, she has a pause in her prep on transition to the ball, so I would look to eliminate that - she probably has been told to prepare early? At her age a pause will mean a lot of inertia to overcome, which requires strength she may not have developed yet. A continuous racquet path will help alleviate this problem.

^ I'm ok with an early prep and a slight pause/hesitation. However if she is going to pause, it would be better at the top of the loop -- at the unit turn. Have her keep the left hand on the racket a bit longer with that unit turn and then extend it out to the side (toward the camera, in this case).

When she is ready to swing, she can use gravity to get the racket moving again if the racket is sitting at the tops of the loop. It has potential energy at the top of the loop and kinetic energy as it drops and then as she starts the forward swing. This should make her stroke more fluid without being to difficult to time.

In the long run this could also help to develop more power. She could delay the racket head drop a bit and then start to turn (hips and then torso) quicker and pull the racket thru faster (on the forward swing). Viola, more power.

the reason for a little more power is that the top girls are taking her shots putting her on the defense consistently. Even with depth on the ball they get ahead in the rallies. When play kids that are even or a bit worse, she likes to dictate points and work her opponents around the court....then she gets them on the run or wins the point with a drop shot.

I'm not by any means an expert, but the feet seem to be real stiff and stuck in one spot seems like she should focus on bending the right knee, loading off where she can feel the muscle tightening in the quad, turn the shoulders and then attack the ball out in front. I think what would happen is the hips would release and the feet would come off the ground.

The first thing I noticed, aside from her quite good play, is her balance. Every forehand, she leans back on her right foot; she nearly topples over.
I would say, have her stay more balanced through the swing and contact.
If she needing more power and spin, you should have her swinging through the ball instead of up on the ball.

High and Deep - now you see the downside with asking for specific advice on a forum such as this, where you have Experts and "experts" and everything in between! Please be very careful with what/who you listen too - ideally (and assuming you want the best for your daughter), find a local coach with a good reputation for working with u12's.

This is the first question that needs to be asked. Kids who play tennis because THEY love to play tennis always end up sticking with it longer. They may not get as far as those with parents who put them in academies and the like, but that life-long love is definitely much more worth it than a shining junior career and then stopping after high school.

Since that's not relevant here, I will just say that for 9, your daughter's FH looks great. I will also say with 100% certainty that 98% of the people who will give you advice have no experience coaching juniors who need quite different advice than adults. So do take what you read with a block of salt.

don't worry Ash I can discern. stuff all over the map. But some good take away.

It seems like some of the posters are concerned about whether she enjoys the game. The answer is yes. At first the answer was not so much. Now that she is winning matches and several tournaments she wants to step it up a bit and practice more. This video is us playing at 730 am on a saturday am. She understands that it takes "hardwork to get hardware" her words not mine. We have been working a continental grip for the serve for several months.... backyard serves, ping pong serves, so that she gets away from the waiter serve... I am proud of her as a dad and coach.

Hope to instill a lifelong appreciation of learning and a process focus... and love for the game. The rest is gravy.

This is the first question that needs to be asked. Kids who play tennis because THEY love to play tennis always end up sticking with it longer. They may not get as far as those with parents who put them in academies and the like, but that life-long love is definitely much more worth it than a shining junior career and then stopping after high school.

Since that's not relevant here, I will just say that for 9, your daughter's FH looks great. I will also say with 100% certainty that 98% of the people who will give you advice have no experience coaching juniors who need quite different advice than adults. So do take what you read with a block of salt.

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I partially agree.
I think if a kid loves tennis he or she will absorb much, much more information given to him or her. It's then a matter of giving the child a lot different tennis related stimuli.

I'm not by any means an expert, but the feet seem to be real stiff and stuck in one spot seems like she should focus on bending the right knee, loading off where she can feel the muscle tightening in the quad, turn the shoulders and then attack the ball out in front. I think what would happen is the hips would release and the feet would come off the ground.

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I'd like to add on to this in saying that it's good to load up on the right foot, then have the exertion move up her leg, opening the hips, then the torso as the racquet comes through.

You've obviously told her to stay on her toes! This I feel could be the issue with her balance, the fact she is pushing up onto her toes right the way through contact is causing her to fall back onto her heels (watch how many times her first move after the hit is to go back slightly - she is rarely able to remain neutral). So for me, that would be the first area to address. Secondly, she has a pause in her prep on transition to the ball, so I would look to eliminate that - she probably has been told to prepare early? At her age a pause will mean a lot of inertia to overcome, which requires strength she may not have developed yet. A continuous racquet path will help alleviate this problem.

Quick question - she is 9, why do you want more power?

Cheers

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Can I have a different take on this and let me know what you think Ash.

When I see her hit her forehand, I believe the reason she's leaning back is because she's trying to use her upper body to get under the ball and lift it as opposed to using her legs for this instead and keeping her back straight. Yes, she does bend her knees but from what I see she's not using her legs to hit the ball, mainly her quads. She bends a bit more sometimes, but lifts early and then uses her back to get under/lift the ball thus making her lean back and loose balance. Hope this makes sense, let me know your opinion.

i m working with children at this age as well and from my view i would advice u to check these points:

-there is no need to hit every FH in open stance; especially when she got time and she s waiting for the ball (sometimes to long) she could as well step in and play a little more closed stance (she will have to learn both anyway)
-start the FH with shoulder turn
-the raquet is a little to close to her body and pointing back to soon imo and therefore the ellbow is to early too close to the body. (there is some more to say about this but its hard for me in english )
-i like her follow through but she is always out of balance. try to catch the raquet with the second hand and freeze in this position for a second (she must not loose balance while freezing)- the so called modern follow throughs like WW she can do when she s in control of her body

overall i like what i see and if u were in my area i would like to work with her

I am using a combination of orange and green dot balls. We are not in the 1% so I am not too concerned about going to regulation right now. She is having success in 10 and unders ( 2 to 1 win ratio) She enjoys it and we are going to work on attacking and moving forward most of the next year. That way when we get to 12's she will have a base of confidence to work from and some all around skills.

She's a cute kid and she looks to be having fun so congratulations to you - not sure if you are dad or mom.

Ash pointed out that she has a pause in her prep. She looks like she was coached to take the racket all the way back where it points toward the back fence. Maybe a long term goal might be to have her stop with her racket head up above her hands and between her shoulders and wait there to start her swing. Watch video of Federer and Nadal or Justin Henin on Youtube to see what I mean. They turn shoulders but keep hands still between shoulders with racket head up above hands. Then when they start the swing it is a continuous loop to contact. Federer's smaller loop is ideal in my book.

I am also a certified coach and think....
- the stroke is very good for her age
-it might very well develop by itself, spontaneously just by feeding (variation of short balls, deep balls, both backhands and forehands)
-The back swing is however bit too early and straight back and low.

I think it would be better she start with shoulder turn and wait in that position slightly with both hands at racket as long as possible then have the backswing with hand a bit higher (shoulder height), then gravity, pat the dog, and then acceleration through the contact.

If you are playing midsize court keep the present racket or better go to 26 if that is allowed. But when you start with regulation balls and full court play, change to 27 inch racket. I share the view of Rick Macci that 25 inch sticks is more for mini tennis,foam balls and the like.